


Vacationland!

by reeseplease



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mainers being dicks, Miscommunication, Panic Attacks, and slight racism, slight homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:24:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9644279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeseplease/pseuds/reeseplease
Summary: Derek and Dex spend a week in Maine together over the summer, alone, in a lake house, and it leads to some important conversations.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever, honestly, but I figured I'd tap into my Maine knowledge for Nursey week! Not well edited so sorry if there are any big mistakes. 
> 
> Also, there is a scene with a anxiety attack, and the way it's handled is how I handle mine. It's how I was told to by a professional, but it's also not supposed to be a guide on how to handle them, so just a warning there.

Derek was sitting on the edge of a dock on a lake in Maine wondering what the fuck happened in his life to bring him here. Well, actually he knew exactly what brought him here. He had mentioned casually in the Haus one day near the end of the semester than his parents were planning on going to Italy for a week for their anniversary, and, while he was invited along, he opted not to go so his moms could enjoy the vacation as a couple. 

“You’re going to be alone for a week?” Dex had asked raising an eyebrow, but not looking up from his laptop.

“I mean, yeah, but it’s not a big deal, I can handle it,” he hadn’t really thought about his  plans for when his parents were away, but he really wasn’t too worried. 

“But what if you have like an anxiety attack or slip and knock yourself out? I’m not sure I trust you alone,” Dex said, still not looking up. His voice had no hint of humor in it. He was actually worried.

“I’m not THAT clumsy,” Derek said, but then thought about it for a second, “But, I guess you have a point…” 

“Come stay with me for the week. My dad’s stepdad is letting us use his lake house for the summer whenever we want. We can go up that week, it’ll be fun,” Dex suggested. A hint of a blush crawled onto his face, and he continued avoiding looking at Derek. 

“You sure your family will be chill with that?” 

“Well. I mean, I figured it could maybe just be us? My family loves you but you know how they are, it might be less stressful without them,” Dex said finally looking up. His blush was bright red now, standing out against his freckles. 

Derek smiled, “Sure, Dex. That actually sounds great. Thanks.”

 

_/•\\_

 

And that was that. Not much more discussion about what a week alone in a lake house in Maine meant. Derek tried not to think too much about being alone with Dex for a week, and why it felt right. But here he was sitting next to Dex drinking blueberry beer (“Nursey, you’re in Maine you HAVE to have blueberry beer come on”) and dipping his feet in the warm water.

They’d been at the house for two days so far, and it’d been mostly great. Dex’s step-grandfather, Bud, was a weird dude, though, and Derek had spent the first few hours at the house looking at all the creepy old shit he had on his shelves. 

“Dude. Dex, is that really a fucking skull?” Derek asked looking at what he was hoping wasn’t an actual human skull on a bookshelf. 

“Ha, yeah. Bud’s dad was was a doctor. He like, just has this weird shit. Like that,” he pointed at a giant animal skull hanging on the wall with red light bulbs in it, “It lights up and it cackles. He liked to turn that on randomly when I was a kid. Scared the shit out of me. I’m just glad I’m not biologically related to Bud,” Dex said with a laugh. 

“So, what’s the sleeping situation, like is there going to be a fucking dancing skeleton in my room?” Derek asked, only half joking. His smile fell a little when he noticed Dex scrunch his nose up and that classic red blush creep up on his face.

“Um, well, so Bud does have some weird shit in this house, and so he, uh, well he only left one room unlocked. And. He’s kind of a judgmental guy, so I didn’t tell him that my friend coming to stay here was you, and I guess he thought I was bringing a girl or something because the only room upstair he left open has a full bed,” Dex rushed out. He waited a beat for Derek to answer, but Derek was too busy trying to comprehend everything Dex said, so he continued, ”But we don’t have to stay in the same bed obviously, I can sleep on the couch or something…” 

They both looked at the couch in the living room. It was older than death, had a stiff back, scratchy fabric and smelled like mothballs. They both looked back at each other.

“Dude. That couch is nastier than the one at the Haus. It’s fine, I don’t mind sharing a bed if you’re ok with it. I mean, we sleep next to each other on the bus all the time it’s not that much different right?” Derek said with a grin. He knew that, yes, it was very much different, but there was no way in hell he was letting Dex on that couch and alone with a human skull that was probably haunted. 

“Uh ok, yeah, thank you because that couch reminds me of my great aunt Gilda. Ew.”

 

_/•\\_

 

Derek was thinking about the two nights they’ve spent in that bed while letting brave fish nibble at his feet when Dex finally broke the comfortable silence. 

“So I know this dock is great and all, but I thought maybe we could go into town and grab some dinner? There’s this pizza place that’s in downtown Augusta, and like everyone knew my dad, so they’ll probably give us a discount. Plus the pizza is pretty fucking great, and-”

“You had me at pizza dude, let’s go,” Derek interrupted, standing up and shaking off his wet feet. Dex smiled and followed. 

The car ride to town was mostly silent. Derek was back to thinking about sleeping next to Dex. He hadn’t gotten much sleep, at first. The house was old and creaky and unfamiliar. He kept tossing and turning but couldn’t get comfortable the first night. Finally Dex rolled over and mumbled, “Here” and pulled Derek into him, wrapping his arm around Derek’s waist. 

“Dex, what are you-”

“Comfort. Sleep Nurse, you’re keeping me up. Focus on matching my breathing and you’ll fall asleep,” Dex said quietly. 

Derek did what he was told and soon enough he was asleep. The next night, without a word, Dex rolled over again and wrapped his arm around Derek like it was routine. Neither one of them had mentioned anything about it in the morning. But now sitting in car on the was to dinner in town, Derek was overthinking the gesture and wanted to bring it up. He also didn’t want to make things awkward and have it stop, so he didn’t bring it up. 

They arrived at this little hole in the wall pizza place with the generic red vinyl booths and checkered flooring. When they walked in a little bell rang and an older graying man at the counter looked up and immediately his face lit up.

“Billy! I haven’t seen you in a few years! How are you doing, son? How’s your father?” 

“Hey, Paul, he’s doing well. I’m just in town for a few days, taking a break from the chaos of the big city, you know how it is,” Dex said with a laugh. 

“The big city?” Derek asked, confused. Dex’s family lived in a smaller town in southern Maine, not a big city.

“Portland, Nursey, it’s considered big to us.”

“Oh, also. Billy?” Derek said with a smirk. Dex rolled his eyes and shoved Derek, more aggressively than probably necessary, but it was without malice. 

“Who’s your friend here?” Paul asked eying Derek in a way that made him slightly uncomfortable. 

“This is my friend Derek, I play hockey with him at Samwell,” Dex answered quickly. Derek tried not to think about why the phrase friend made him frown a little. 

“Huh. Where’s the rest of your family at?” Paul asked still eying Derek. 

“Home. It’s just us. Derek’s never been to Maine, so I’m showing him around a bit,” Dex said. Derek noticed a defensive edge to Dex’s voice that confused him. 

“Samwell, huh. Interesting. That’s one of them liberal schools in Massachusetts right?” Paul said with clear distaste. 

“Ayuh, and you can cool it Paul. Billy here’s allowed to hang out with whoever he wants, however he wants, aright?” A voice said from behind Derek and Dex. Derek hadn’t even noticed someone else walk into the restaurant. They both turned to be greeted by an older heavier man with long scraggly white hair and white stubble to match. He had wire frame glasses perched on his nose, and looked like the KMart version of Santa. 

“Grampa Timmy? I didn’t know you were in town!” Dex said lighting up.

“Just got back. Noticed your car out front, figured I’d come say hi, didn’t think I’d have to stop Paul from spewing his judgemental bullshit, but such is life,” He had the most Maine accent Derek had ever heard. Then, Timmy turned to Derek, “Hey there son, I’m Billy’s grandpa, and you are?” He stuck out a hand towards Derek, who shook it carefully.

“Derek Nurse. Dex’s friend from school,” Derek said. 

“He plays hockey with me, gramps, we’re d-men together,” Dex added cheerfully. Derek hadn’t seen Dex this happy with his family in a while. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his family, it was just that with so many siblings it sometimes got overwhelming. This was an interesting side to Dex. 

“I’ll have to come see you two play sometime! Why did he call you Dex?” 

“Poindexter. It’s a hockey thing. And you said you would come to a game this year, gramps, it’s ok, I know it’s hard for you. You don’t have to come,” Dex said sagging his shoulders.

“I’ll figure it out, I promise. But, let’s get out of here, we can some good pizza at my house, screw Paul,” Timmy said flipping off Paul. 

“Fuck you too, Timmy,” Paul said casually, as if it were a normal exchange.

 

_/•\\_

 

Derek found himself sitting in a cramped antique store, at a poker table, with a fresh homemade pizza on his plate, and a cheap beer in his hand. Dex was sitting next to him, with water (he had to argue with his grampa on that one, but he was driving and finally won). He looked around and saw an assortment of random shit that all had hand drawn price tags on them. A lot of the stuff was covered in dust. There was a record player with Led Zeppelin playing somewhere, and a huge table with a train set going that added some interesting ambiance to the scene. When Dex told him a week in true Maine would different, this was not at all what he expected. 

“So these ladies come into town, you know, durin the leaf peepin’ season right? And these old hags, they always come in saying ‘Just looking!’ and you KNOW they ain’t gonna buy shit, so I got tired of it. I mean, fuck it right? It’s my shop? So I started ignorin em, but that didn’t work either, they just started talkin to me anyway. Finally I came up with the perfect solution. They walk in and, you know you can spot these old hags from a mile away, and when they walk in I just started sayin, ‘Hello and welcome in you old fuckers!’ in the sweetest voice I could muster up. These ladies had no idea what to do with themselves, so they would just smile nod and walk around like I didn’t just insult them,” Timmy finished his story with a booming laugh, having made himself laugh. 

Derek laughing the whole way through, finally looked over at Dex saw him with such a genuine smile, he wasn’t sure it was actually Dex. 

“You know, it’s the people from my town that are probably these old hags,” Derek said once the laughter quieted down. 

“You one of them big city boys huh? And Billy gets along with you. You should count yourself lucky. Billy here is picky with his friend choices.”

“Ah well, it wasn’t always like this, me and Nursey fought a lot at first,” Dex admitted, looking at Derek. 

“Yeah, it actually took us a long time to be in the same room without yelling at each other about something,” Derek added. 

Timmy raised and eyebrow and smiled as if he had a secret to tell. He looked like he was about to say something important, but then just huffed out a laugh and said. “And now you boys are spending a week together in the most boring state capital in the country, so something changed.” 

Derek and Dex looked at each other and shrugged. “We just, started listening to each instead of yelling at each other, I guess.” Dex finally said, and Derek nodded. 

“If only it was always that easy. Good for you boys, though. You must have gotten that from your mom, Billy.”

There was a pause, and Derek was lost as Dex’s smile dimmed and they both looked a little sad for a moment. But as soon as it happened, it was over and Timmy cheered up again, and stood.

“But anyway. It’s getting late, I should probably head up stairs to the apartment soon. You boys drive safe. Billy, have your dad call me?”

“Will do gramps. It was nice seeing you. And thanks for, whatever that was with Paul,” Dex said over his shoulder, leading Derek out to the car. 

“Anytime, kid,” Timmy shouted back, before closing the door.

 

Once they were in the car, Dex took a deep breath before starting up the car, and Derek watched the way Dex’s face settled into a frown as he pulled out of his spot. They drove in silence, more tense than before. Derek watched the lights on the side of the road bounce of Dex’s face as he drove through town, and eventually darkness settle in as they turned onto smaller roads, and finally the dirt road that lead to the house. Dex parked the car and turned the engine off, but didn’t move right away, and neither did Derek. 

“Dex, what’s up? Something happened back there,” Derek finally said quietly, hoping Dex didn’t turn defensive instead of opening up. Derek was about to tell him he didn’t have to say anything when Dex rested his head against the steering wheel and sighed. 

“I just. Grandpa Timmy’s been married like four times. My dad’s mom was his third wife. And my dad, he- he’s been married before too,” Dex finally said with a shaky voice. 

“Oh. I didn’t know that,” Derek said dumbly.

“I don’t mention it often. He never had any kids with his previous wife, but it’s still like a thing. They divorced because they fought a lot. My nana divorced Grampa Timmy because they fought a lot. Gramps and his current wife fight a lot. That’s why he was out of town. They prefer to not be together,” Dex paused and continued with a quieter voice, “My parents fight sometimes, too.” 

“Oh, Will, I didn’t know-”

“You couldn’t have. I don’t like to talk about it, alright?” Dex snapped, and then cringed.

“Hey, Will, it’s ok,” Derek said, carefully placing a hand on on Dex’ shoulder, “Is that what’s bothering you?”

Dex shook his head, “I’m used to that. It’s just, everyone in my family fights and breaks up, and what if,” He paused and sighed, “this is stupid.”

“It’s not stupid if it’s bothering you,” Derek said immediately. Dex looked up, and Derek saw he had a few tears rolling down his face. 

“What if I can’t stay in a relationship, or-or get married someday. I know I’m not the easiest person to live with I mean, look at us,” as he spoke, more tears starting falling and Derek’s heart broke a little. He leaned over and without thinking wiped off some of the tears with his thumb. 

“Hey, hey, Will, look at us, though. We figured our shit out. We don’t fight anymore, at least not like we used to. You aren’t your parents, Will, and you aren’t your Grampa Timmy,” Derek said, resting his hand on the side of Dex’s face, “Hell, we’ve spent almost three whole days together and the closest thing to a fight we’ve had is me chirping you about being called Billy. Which, I’m still not over, by the way,” Derek said with a grin. Dex huffed out a laugh, which Derek counted as a win.

“I guess I hadn’t even noticed. How well we get along now, I mean,” Dex said in a way that made Derek think there was something more to this conversation that Dex wasn’t letting on. But he wouldn’t push him tonight. 

“What do you say we go inside yeah? We can put on some Netflix and, uh-”

“Chill?” Dex said with a smirk.

“William Poindexter, you sly dog,” Derek said as they started for the house.

“It’s your word, Nurse,” Dex said back with a laugh. Derek wasn’t sure but he could have sworn Dex was blushing.

 

_/•\\_

 

Four episodes of The Office later and Derek found himself sitting up in their bed with Dex leaning against him and Derek’s arm around Dex. Dex’s breath was slow and even, and Derek realized he had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of the Threat Level Midnight episode (on any other day he would have made a big deal about it, but not today) and he was trapped. He didn’t want to move and wake Dex, so he accepted his fate and put on another episode. He looked down at Dex. His mouth slightly open and was softly snoring in a way that Derek had to admit he found adorable. It wasn’t until Derek had the urge to lean down and kiss Dex’s forehead that he realized he was fucked. Somehow without noticing he had slowly been falling for Dex.

Derek suddenly felt inappropriate watching Dex sleep. What if Dex didn’t feel the same way? Would he want to risk their friendship for this? Did Dex even like guys? If he did, why would Derek be his type? He’d seen the way Paul eyed him up, and he wasn’t sure if it was the guy thing or the race thing, but either way, there was no way Dex would want to have to deal with either (or both) for the rest of his life, there wasn’t anyway he could like Derek-

Derek realized he was spiraling, but he couldn’t help it. His breath quickened and before he could stop himself, he jolted upright panicking and woke Dex. 

“Nursey?” He mumbled half awake, “What are you- oh Derek,” He said realizing what was happening. 

“Hey Derek, breath with me yeah? In, out. In, out,” Dex said calmly, counting in a few seconds, and out a few seconds. Finally Derek was able to breath better on his own.

“There you go, Derek, keep breathing,” Dex said watching carefully as Derek’s face relaxed a bit more, “Can I touch you?” 

Derek nodded slowly and quietly said, “Yeah.”

Dex wrapped his arms around Derek carefully, and pulled him into a sitting hug.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Dex said after a few seconds. 

Derek thought for a second before blurting out, “I should go home tomorrow.” 

Dex was silent. Derek closed his eyes, waiting for Dex to say something, anything. 

“Why? I-I thought we were having fun, I’m sorry if what happened earlier-”

“No!” Derek interrupted, “No, it’s not you, I just. You were talking about relationships, and fighting and I thought about us, and how well we work together, and how much I care for you, and… you fell asleep on me, and you looked so peaceful, and it’s not fair to you, you’re not into me, and that’s fine, but I shouldn’t stay here with you and how I feel about you, and I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have even come.”

Derek watched Dex’s face go through a bunch of different emotions, none of with he could really pinpoint. He was silent for what felt like an eternity to Derek, and it was killing him. He wanted to move and pack up and go sleep on the creepy mothball couch or something to get out of this situation but he couldn’t bring himself to move. 

After what was probably only a few minutes, Dex finally spoke, “Why do you think I’m not into you?” 

Derek’s brain short circuited for a moment. He didn’t know how to answer. So he didn’t. 

“Derek, I’m very into you. What- what did you think I was talking about in the car?” Dex said, surprising Derek. 

“A future hypothetical girl?” Derek squeaked out. Dex laughed, but not at Derek, just at the situation. 

“Dude, I thought it was kind of clear I was talking about us? I mean. Maybe not? But then you like had your hand on my face, I thought…”

“Can I kiss you?” Derek said quickly. Dex nodded, and Derek leaned forward carefully, and kissed him. It was quick, and awkward, and a little salty because apparently he’d started crying at some point, but it was perfect. He backed away and looked at Dex.

“Wow.” 

“Yeah.”  
“I’ve wanted to do that for a while, to be honest,” Dex said blushing. 

“Really?” Derek said, startled by the confession.

“Yeah, dude, I mean, you’re just- I don’t know, look at you?” Dex stumbled out, “are you meaning to tell me that I’m the one who figured out my feeling first? Not the tortured soul poet who writes about his feelings all the time?” Dex said with a grin.

“I guess I was too busy not knowing what my feelings meant,” Derek said quietly and honestly. 

“Well, I’m glad you figured it out.”

“Me, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, the lake house they stay at is pretty much my step grandfathers. He really does have a creepy human skull. And moose skull. Maine is a weird place. 
> 
>  
> 
> I might do a second part to this, if I have, but let me know if you want more? You can find my fresh new omgcp blog on tumblr @hockeyandpie


End file.
